'Heinous crimes': Hegseth's combative lash out sparks instant backlash

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sparked a wave of online backlash Friday after posting a defiant and combative statement defending ongoing U.S. military operations targeting alleged cartel-linked traffickers in the Caribbean.

In his social media post Friday, Hegseth accused the media of reporting “fake news,” and insisted the controversial missions are both lawful and in compliance with “armed conflict.”

But the pushback was immediate and uniform across journalists, national security analysts and military reporters.

“You are committing heinous crimes,” former CNN White House correspondent John Harwood wrote Friday on X.

“This is not just a non denial - it's a quasi endorsement,” said MS NOW contributor Sam Stein of The Bulwark in his own social media post.

CNN national security reporter Natasha Bertrand added: “No denial here that a second strike deliberately killed survivors on Sept 2, as we and the Post reported today.”

Tufts University international politics professor Daniel Drezner appeared to mock the defense secretary, who now refers to himself as the United States "Secretary of War."

“Just call him Pete Hagueseth from now on,” Drezner wrote on X.

Joey Schmitt, a Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration analyst, noted that Hegseth “does not deny ordering war crimes.”

“The military should refuse carrying out these orders because they are illegal,” he added.

While Washington Post military reporter Dan Lamothe told his followers on X that Hegseth’s response was relief on “old tropes.”

“When there is accurate reporting that senior officials do not like, they often 1) falsely claim it's meant to discredit rank-and-file troops 2) falsely claim it's 'fake news.' In fact, it scrutinizes decision-making at senior levels of the U.S. government,” Lamothe wrote.